Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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374. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he is aware of an ongoing issue (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45827/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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In March 2023 I established the Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention, Tuam and, in May 2023, I appointed Mr Daniel MacSweeney as the Director to head up the Office. The Director’s role is to recover, where possible to identify, and to re-bury in a respectful and appropriate way, the children who were inappropriately buried at the site of the former Mother and Baby institution in Tuam.

The Director’s initial priorities have been engagement with key stakeholders, including families and survivors, and undertaking the necessary preparatory works to allow for the excavation to commence. Preliminary works at the site will begin in the coming weeks and will be followed by the commencement of full excavation works in early 2025.

The Director and his team are also working to get the Identification Programme up and running and to begin taking DNA from eligible family members as soon as possible. Under the Institutional Burials Act 2022, a number of steps need to be taken before the Director can start taking DNA from eligible family members: a sample of recovered remains need to be analysed to ensure that DNA of sufficient quality is available to enable DNA comparison and a public information campaign needs to be launched to raise awareness and let people know how they can participate in the programme.

In the meantime, if a family member is not in a position to wait for the Identification Programme to begin, because of serious concerns about their age or health status, I have put arrangements in place in the form of an Administrative Scheme. The Administrative Scheme allows a sample to be taken now, on a purely voluntary basis, so that it will be available to be used to help identify remains from the site. To date, a small number of DNA samples have been taken from elderly or vulnerable eligible family members under this scheme.

The Director’s Office is also engaging with individuals who have queries in relation to providing a sample as part of the Identification Programme.